Your Friendly Neighborhood Music Critic

Snoop Dogg – Bush

Snoop Dogg & Pharrell Willams, the team that brought us the catchiness and instantaneously recognized production of, “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” return with Bush, this time with Pharrell producing the whole project. We’ve seen a very interesting and versatile evolution of Snoop’s career. From the most feared rapper alive, to pimp figure, to Rastafarian “Snoop Lion,” to Flying Lotus collaborator, to what NME calls, “a kind of blunt-smoking uncle of America, who seems harmless enough and is extremely good at being very famous.” On Bush, we see the next level of Snoop Dogg: pop star?

Bush feels like doing the electric slide at a summer barbeque. Lusciously produced, with vibes of “Get Lucky,” and “Happy,” all over the album, it feels more like a joint Snoop Dogg & Pharrell Williams album, and should probably be labeled as such. Nowadays, Pharrell’s style of production may be the most easily recognizable in all of pop music. Chill and funky, Bush is full of ’80’s drums that haven’t seen the light of day since the era of post-disco dance music, that even Madonna didn’t want back on Rebel Heart. Shamir would be happy with this one.

Known as an entertainer, Pharrell capitalizes on Snoop’s new driven pop career, hooking him up with Charlie Wilson, forming some weird new 2015 Gap Band, where Snoop pretty much only sings on every track. He throws two verses down on “Peaches N Cream,” however, and makes a Rob Base & DJ-EZ Rock reference, but pretty much lets Charlie & Pharrell always ride with him on the choruses, followed by some decent verses from T.I. on “Edibles,” Kendrick Lamar, and a misplaced Rick Ross on “I’m Ya Dogg.” Bush is what I imagined Kanye West to be talking about when he said his new record would be “cookout music.” Bush is like the Snoop Dogg album we didn’t really need but now have anyway, cause why not? Throw some burgers on the grill in the middle of the light up dance floor from Saturday Night Fever with Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams and Charlie Wilson.